


Mountain Climbing in Texas

by radioqueen



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Catheters, Delirium, F/M, Fever, Flashbacks, Homelessness, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Rape Aftermath, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sickfic, nonconsensual drugging, the vast
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2019-11-28 10:30:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18207182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioqueen/pseuds/radioqueen
Summary: When Julia gets sick, a mischievous avatar pays her a visit. Meanwhile, Trevor tries to figure out what the heck is going on.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Hunger](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17308922) by [radioqueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioqueen/pseuds/radioqueen). 



In America, three urinalysis strips cost $9.43 at WalMart. Cranberry extract pills cost $3.98. And the cheapest clinic costs $100 per visit—not counting any medicines you might need on top of being looked after.

“Nah, that can’t be right.” Trevor scratched his beard. “Where's your mobile? Look up where tramps go for medical care ‘round these parts.”

“They go to A&E, and they get the bare minimum treatment.” Julia gritted her teeth and knuckled her forehead. She was sitting on the toilet, working up the courage to empty her infected bladder. Her right wrist, freshly cut out of its cast with a pair of kitchen shears, was much paler than her left.

“But Jul,” Trevor reasoned, “if bare minimum involves antibiotics, maybe we ought to—”

“I’d rather die than go back there,” Julia blurted out.

Her words hung in the air while Trevor tried to decode them. The two of them were in a new city. They’d never been to any hospital in this part of the country at all.

“Julia—”

“Do you mind getting the fuck out while I try to piss?” she snapped at him. “I’m miserable enough without you nagging me. Can’t you go get some food or something? I want to be alone for a bit.”

“Whatever you want. No need to get shirty.”

Trevor left, planting a kiss on her head as he passed.

* * *

“Go get some food” was a harder task than it sounded. Trevor tried to keep Julia fed consistently, at the very least. He couldn't stop her nightmares or make her feel safe in the world again, but he could keep her fed enough she didn't get the Low Blood Sugar Blues, as he liked to call it. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of last December, when he'd been laid up with an infected stab wound. Shockingly, fucking strange men for money a month after being violently gang-raped wasn't too good for Julia's mental health. It also wasn't too good for her clients' physical health, but those whiners had recovered even faster than Trevor.

But his leg was mostly healed up now, so it was his turn to take care of her. Trevor normally would've just broken into another house or gone to the woods with their rifle. Or, if he'd been prettier, he would have gladly tried a street corner to return the favor for Jul. But none of those options was exactly legal in Texas, and he couldn't risk jail since it meant leaving Julia all alone when she was feeling so poorly.

So, instead, Trevor put his dignity aside and begged for change outside a petrol station.

 _“Will Kill Vampires for Food. Anything Helps. God Bless,”_ read his cardboard sign.

A few people chuckled and tossed him their coins. A few even gave him bills.

“Buffy is still my favorite TV show!” said a perky college student who probably hadn't been alive when the show had aired. She handed him seven crumpled ones. “It sucks that she didn’t get paid for slaying. It’s misogynist bullshit, honestly. She totally should have been compensated! It was hard work, you know? And dangerous!”

Trevor just winked at her. “So I hear. Thank you for your help. You're keeping' the world a safer place.”

After almost six hours, Trevor had earned two granola bars, a slice of pizza, and just over a hundred dollars. He swaggered back to the abandoned house with a grin on his face the whole way. He'd have to remember that people liked the vampire sign next time. He wasn't just going to feed Julia—he was going to take her to the goddamn doctor and hand over a hundred American dollars like it was nothing.

"Honey, I'm home," Trevor joked as he let himself in the previously jimmied back door.

There was no answer. Trevor wasn't too worried, though. He could feel her upstairs, sleeping soundly. He climbed the creaking, dusty stairs and found Julia curled up in the master bed. The blanket was tucked under her chin, like she always did when she slept. It was a bit early for her to be in bed, but if she wasn’t feeling well, that wasn’t so surprising. Trevor left his new prizes on the side table and kicked off his shoes to climb into bed with her.

“Jul,” he murmured into her ear, pulling the blankets back. “You about ready to go to the doctor, sleepyhead?”

"Nuh-uh." She hugged herself and shivered in the Texas air, despite her flushed skin.

"What's the matter with you, Jul?" Trevor climbed into the bed with her.

She immediately sidled up to him for warmth, keeping him perched on the edge of the bed. “Cold,” she sighed.

“You’re burning up.” Trevor felt her skin. “Did you take that paracetamol?

“Mmhmm,” Julia affirmed in her sleep. “So cold...”

“How ‘bout water? You been drinking your water?”

Julia just groaned and rolled onto her other side.

“Julia.” Trevor slid closer to her, and his hip rested in something wet and cool. He swore and pushed the covers all the way off.

The white sheet was not soaked clear or yellow, as he'd expected, but rather an orange-ish pink. Flecks of clotted blood dotted the sheet, some nearly the size of a grain of rice. They looked like spooky, bloody worms, and that just unnerved Trevor more.

"Julia, you gotta wake up." He shook her hard. "We gotta get you to the doctor."

“No, Daddy, I’m too sick for school,” Julia protested, hugging the blanket to her front. “I think I’ve got a fever.”

“I think you’re right about that,” Trevor muttered. “Come on. I’ve got money for the doctor. Let’s get you into some dry clothes and head out, all right?”

He tried to strip off her wet nightshirt, and Julia screamed and elbowed him in the nose.

“Bloody hell, Jul!" Trecord held his nose. “Fine, you wanna go to the clinic soaked in your own piss? Be my guest.”

He grabbed her by the left hand and tried to force her into a sitting position. When she resisted, he forced open her eyelids and got close to her face to stare into her eyes.

"Wake up, Julia," he said sternly. "Stop fuckin' around and wake the hell up!"

“No, Daddy, just let me sleep,” she begged, still not seeing him. "I'm so tired and cold."

"If this is a prank, Julia, I swear..."

Trevor tried to lift her, but his recently healed leg stopped him. His next course of action was to try to give her more medicine and then rouse her to go to the clinic, but she was completely out of it.

"I went in the dark room," she mumbled. "The door was... the door was unlocked, Dad. Did... did you leave the... the... did you leave the shed unlocked on purpose, Dad? I was so scared when it chased me."

Trevor was growing more frightened by the minute. He finally did the only sensible thing he could think of: he took her mobile phone and dialed emergency services.

“Stay with me, Jul." He stroked her short, sweaty hair as the phone rang. "The ambulance will be here soon."

* * *

Julia didn't even scream upon waking up to four men hovering over her. At least, not until she had already thrown herself out of bed to escape and been pinned to the floor.

“Dad!” Julia shrieked in terror as the paramedics inserted an IV into her arm. “Dad, please, help me! They’re hurting me, Daddy!”

"They're helping you," Trevor said. "Just relax, Julia."

"Help me, Dad!" Julia tried to yank the IV out of her arm. "FUCK! Not again, please, not again, fuck, fuck, fuck..."

"Sir, has your daughter recently experienced any kind of trauma?" one of the paramedics asked.

"Oh, we, er..." Trevor grunted as Julia kicked him in the shin. "We were mugged a few weeks back."

"We need to get her calm. Is she allergic to any medicines? Is she taking anything, either prescribed or recreationally?"

"No, and no. She's just been taking the cranberry extract for her bladder."

"Get the fuck away from me!" Julia tried to bite one of the paramedics. "Don't fucking touch me! Dad! Daddy, help!"

"Should we call for police backup to hold her down?"

"She does real well on Valium and the like," Trevor offered nervously, hoping they wouldn't call the police. "She might have a bit in her bag. I can make her take some. Or I can hold her down if you need. I'm stronger than I look."

"Help me!" Julia kicked weakly again. "Dad, make them stop!"

"I'll put in the call for some lorazepam."

"Yeah, no. Not if she's pissing blood, sorry," interrupted the older paramedic. "Benzos are a no-go if there's kidney involvement."

"So... Haldol, then? Ugh, that takes forever..."

Trevor didn't like the sound of that. He knew of Haldol vaguely from some old rough-sleeping acquaintances with mental health issues. That wasn't something Julia needed, in his opinion. But then, he wasn't a medical expert.

"No, let's try 75 milligrams of ketamine through her IV and work our way up if necessary. She seems pretty weak right now; I'd rather use physical restraints and keep her supporting her airway if we have to choose.

"Ketamine? Is that like Valium?" Trevor asked anxiously.

"It's even better," one of the paramedics assured him with a friendly grin. "People do ketamine at raves and stuff. It's also very good at keeping sick people still so we can fix 'em, as it turns out."

"You hear that, Jul?" Trevor patted her ankle. "You're gettin' the good stuff, and all you had to do was get deathly ill."

The paramedics chuckled, but Julia screamed in rage. One of the men administered the ketamine shot, and Julia went still within seconds.

”How’s that feel?” Trevor asked, almost afraid to breathe. "Jul?"

"Trevor?" Julia asked in confusion. "Are you here?"

"Yeah, Jul." Trevor moved up to her head and took her hand. "Right here. You feeling better?"

"Where the fuck am I?" she asked, looking right through him. "I don't fucking like this place."

"This is the same place you went to bed," Trevor said, confused. "Why? Where does it look like?"

"Snow." Julia stared up at the ceiling. "I... can... fly? Since when can I fucking fly?"

Trevor looked at the paramedics in alarm.

"She's just having a  _good_ time," one of them reassured him.

"Oh, shit!" Julia gasped and squeezed Trevor's hand. "Do you see him, Trev?"

"Who?"

"The... the man with the lightning scar."

That sent a Hunter’s warning through his spine, though Trevor couldn't figure out why. He squeezed her hand back.

"No, I don't see him," he said. "Why don't you keep an eye on him for me, since your eyes are younger and sharper? You let me know if he does anything worth checking out."

Julia nodded as the paramedics loaded her onto the stretcher.

"Never had someone see Harry Potter in the K-hole, but there's a first time for everything," one of the paramedics joked. "You want to come with us to the hospital, Dad?"

Trevor didn't bother correcting him, just climbed up into the ambulance with Julia.


	2. Chapter 2

Julia slept for most of the ambulance ride, and she pissed more blood on the stretcher by the time they arrived. Trevor held her hand and spoke to her.

“Stupid of you to let it get this bad,” he chided softly. “Bet you’re gonna need an IV full of antibiotics. I should’ve dragged your stubborn arse in a week ago.”

The paramedics were friendly enough, but the hospital they dumped Julia off at was crowded and dirty. Trevor hated that, especially when Julia had somehow finagled a posh hospital stay for him when he'd gotten stabbed a few months back. After initially checking Julia out, the nurses left her and Trevor stuck in a hall for what felt like hours. 

Trevor felt even worse about his providing abilities when the billing lady came to work out payment details.

"So you're saying you have no way to pay?" she asked in annoyance.

"I never said that," Trevor backpedaled. "We’re just not residents here, is all. Don't you have any programs for people from out of the country? Programs where we can pay a discounted amount?"

"No. If she's going to be a homeless write-off, I need to let the doctor know before he runs any more tests."

Writing Julia off? Before running all the tests she needed? Oh hell no. Trevor pulled himself up to his full height and took a deep breath.

"I _ said  _ we could pay," he said loudly. "We might not look it, me being in my walking clothes and her being in her nightshirt, but we're computer programmers from Manchester here for a computer conference. I bet our combined salary is twice yours! Hell, there's a chance we helped make that system you use for billing. So you just let the doctor run his tests, and we'll transfer the money out of savings when we get the bill. Now, I want my friend fed some proper food and moved to a private room with a huge window—"

"No!"

Trevor and the woman both spun to look at Julia. She was staring intently at the ceiling.

“What’s that, Jul?” Trevor asked.

"Storm's coming," Julia warned as if her eyes were fixed to The Weather Channel. "No windows."

"All right, then," Trevor said. "I want my friend moved to a private room with no windows—"

"Ask Gerry," Julia interrupted. "Ask him about The Vast. Ask him... ask him how to escape. I’m so frightened, Trevor. I can’t get out."

That sent Trevor's uneasiness right into fear. He doubted Julia was actually trapped in some hellscape made by The Vast, but he didn’t need her spouting off about entities and hunting.

"So, supper, private room, no windows,” Trevor said hastily. “And a cup of tea. You need anything else from us, or can we have some peace and quiet?"

"No,  _ sir,"  _ the billing rep replied sarcastically. "I'll get right on all that."

"You do that. And we'll see you when she's ready to go home." 

Needless to say, there was no supper, tea, or private room. In fact, there was no room at all until Julia had a seizure and Trevor started shouting about “malpractice” and “lawsuits” that they bothered to do anything at all. They miraculously found an empty room before Julia’s seizure had even finished. 

Trevor backed against the wall and watched them clean Julia up and stick more tubes into her. His heart was beating faster than it ever had on a Hunt. Julia had never had so much as the sniffles in the nearly seven years Trevor had known her, and now she was so sick she didn’t know her own name.

The nurses stuffed Julia’s wet, bloody sheets into a bag and left with vials of her blood and piss. Trevor paced at the foot of her bed.  He felt better watching the antibiotics and other good stuff dripping down the tube into Julia's arm, but he’d feel a whole lot better when she woke up.

“Where the fuck am I?” Julia muttered a few moments later.

“Hospital,” Trevor said, his shoulders untensing. “You awake for real this time?”

“Hospital?” Julia scowled, eyes still closed. “Why the fuck…?”

“You made yourself real sick,” Trevor said. “Had a fit and everything. But you’re gonna be all right. They’ve got you on a bunch of medicines. They said the fit was ‘cause of the fever, and that it probably wouldn’t do any long-term damage. How do you feel?”

Julia grit her teeth, tears sparkling in her eyes. “Those motherfuckers…” 

“Yeah, they took their sweet time—”

“That’s  _ the wrong fucking hole!”  _ Julia tried to yank out the catheter a nurse had just put in.

“Oy! You stop that.” Trevor leapt forward and pinned her arms across her chest. “Trust me, Jul. You do  _ not  _ want to pull that out.”

Julia screamed and struggled feebly until the nurses finally restrained her to the bed.

“I’ll kill you!” Julia snapped her teeth, just barely missing a nearby gloved hand. “Don’t fucking touch me! I’ll kill you all! I’ll cut off your cocks and make you eat them! Bastards! Rapists! Motherfuckers! I’ll kill every last one of you!”

The nurses didn’t seem overly bothered by Julia’s threats. One injected something into her IV, and Julia gradually became still again. Her screams likewise faded to a soft whine that reminded Trevor of an injured dog. He turned the television to a movie he thought she’d like and then sat by her bedside.

“I hate they had to tie you up, but you can’t threaten to kill the nurses, Jul.” Trevor massaged Julia’s limp, feverish hand. “They’re just takin’ care of you. You don’t know the score, so best not to go killin’ anyone right now. And no Hunter talk either, you hear? You just rest, and if anyone needs killin’, you leave ‘em to me ‘til you’re better, all right?”

Julia just whimpered until she finally fell into a restless sleep.

 

The room they moved Julia to had several windows, which made her highly agitated until Trevor thought to pull the thick curtain around Julia’s bed, blocking her view of the rain and darkening sky. The fourth time the thunder woke her, she stared straight past Trevor again.

"You still flying?" he asked, knowing it was foolish to hope she was finally lucid (but doing so anyway).

“He won’t stop chasing me,” Julia whispered, her voice so soft it was hard to hear her over the sudden downpour outside.

“Who?”  Trevor asked. “The man with the lightning scar?”

“I have to tell Trevor.”

“Huh? It’s me, Jul.”

“I have to tell Trevor he’s coming for me.”

“Who’s coming?”

“I have to tell Trevor he’s coming for my body.” Julia tried to sit up and looked confused when she noticed her restrained limbs. “Did Trevor do this?”

“Yeah, Trevor did that,” Trevor said. “He’s watching your body for you ‘til you get back.”

“Oh, thank fuck.” Julia fell back against the bed. “Tell him he’s coming for me?”

“I promise,” Trevor said. “But who’s coming for you?”

Julia was asleep again, but Trevor didn't have to wait long for his answer. He smelled the thing the second it got into the hospital. He growled, and Julia stirred in her bed.

"Don't worry." Trevor tucked the blanket up to her chin and kissed her forehead. "I've got this one. You just enjoy your feather bed."

Her fluids were running low. A nurse would no doubt be coming to change the bags out soon. Trevor chewed the inside of his lip anxiously as whatever monster had just walked in made its way toward them. Lightning flashed brilliantly into the room, and then an instant later, thunder boomed so loudly the windows shook and the lights went out.

The lights flickered back on, dimmer now and accompanied by a steadily increasing droning sound. It must’ve been the generator. Julia mumbled something concerned in her sleep. 

"You're all right." Trevor unsheathed his knife and dropped into a fighting stance in front of Julia’s bed. "Anything comes for you will have to get through me first."

And something did come for Julia, five minutes later.  _ Tap, tap, tap, tap.  _ Trevor knew a monster when he smelled it, much less when it was stalking his hunting partner.  _ Tap, tap, tap— _

A shadow stopped outside the door, and so did the tapping. Trevor braced himself for the door to be thrown open, for a humanoid enemy to attack him and Julia.

Instead, the windows exploded. People screamed outside the room. If Trevor hadn’t pulled the curtain, he and Julia would’ve gotten showered with glass. Trevor glanced over his shoulder and saw two terrifying things: the giant cyclone just outside the window, and Julia absolutely missing from her bed.

Trevor cried out in alarm. Julia was simply and thoroughly gone. Her restraints were still there, looped over the rails. Her tubing appeared to have been severed, leaving her pinkish piss and the last of her IV fluids to leak everywhere. Her heart monitor was beeping frantically.

Trevor was stunned, but he knew what he had to do. He tightened his grip on his knife and charged at the door—and whatever was behind it.


End file.
